Where to start! The last two weeks have been crazy. Today marks the end to my first week of nursing school and I couldnt be happier. There were times over the last few months I did not think I would be well enough to attend nursing school. But, thanks to a great Rheumy here I am! It seemed like so long ago that I was anxiously waiting to hear where I was at on the Nursing school start list and when I would be able to begin my studies. Then the RA diagnosis........Things were changing so fast I had almost completely forgotten about nursing school. My hopes of starting were buried under a pile of pain and confusion.

Today, I am feeling great! 95%. The Enbrel has made a considerable difference. I am still not a fan of the injections, or the site reactions. However, that is a very small price to pay for the way I am feeling today. Pain is not totally gone. I have problems in my thumbs, a nodule of my foot still, pain in my muscle's some days, and just a few minor side effects from the meds. My Doctor called this week and said all my blood work up looked good ( except low D3) and I am starting to wean off the prednisone. My health is headed in the right direction!

Now, if someone could just tell me how to get past this finger pain so I don't fumble so much during school procedures and give me some motivation to start working out that would be very helpful:):):)

***I am working on some cool additions to the page and will be adding much new material next weekend***

Sorry for the delay in adding new material, there are just not enough hours in the day. Have a pain free weekend!!!

I woke up this morning after a poor nights sleep and it took every ounce of energy I had to get out of bed. I cant tell if I am coming down with the flu, a sinus infection, side effects of the methotrexate, or is this something to expect with RA? This is the worst I have felt since starting my meds a month ago. I am crossing my fingers this passes quickly. I am so tired, my body is radiating with pain and discomfort. I cant just lay in bed doing nothing so I decided to work on my page a bit. I am going to take it slow today and hope tomm I will wake up to the sun on my face and be able to take a bike ride. Have a great weekend!

So, I got my final grades for the semster and they were not so good. I deserved these grades becuase I did not put in the work I should have. At the begining of this semster I was sick, in severe pain and confused. At the end of this semester I now know I have RA, I am feeling great! It was a very rocky semster, but now I am feeling better and ready to tackle the summer semester. I was making myself sick when I first realized it was my own fault for doing so poorly, but after thinking about it, I did the best I could under the circumstances. The last thing I want to do is write a 1000 page paper on Aristotle when I can barely get out of bed and my whole body feels like it was thrown from a 10 story building. I have learned from this, and I will be sure to not let RA get in the way of my future as a nurse.